# [closed post]

[quote_gentle_unquote]

Susan has devised another activity to occupy her days. By the calendar's reckoning, the start of spring is roughly a week away. Between her and Tress, they've got the outline of a plan for the next Dark, and Susan is happy to rely on people who've got greater interest in and skill for growing things insofar as agriculture goes. But the growing season here shall be longer than usual, and Susan should like to have some idea about what that might mean for the ecosystem,

This is her flimsy excuse to pardon the latest stack of books she's currently carrying out of the library. There is a marginal off-chance that preparatory reading on soil biota could, potentially, be useful. Perhaps she might even talk someone else into reading on the subject as well, so that they might discuss it.

Comments

[onthewillowsthere]

Galahad is coming in as she's going out, since his own stash of romances is getting low, and he narrowly avoids a collision. "Hello."

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"Oh! Galahad," says Susan, peering at him over her pile of books. She wedges herself against the door, holding it open for him. "Hello."

[onthewillowsthere]

"Thank you." He pauses. "Do you need help?" Her arms are probably stronger than his now, considering the archery, but he doesn't think not to offer.

[quote_gentle_unquote]

Susan has it handled, but it is rather unwieldy if she's to avoid running into anyone in the halls. Another set of arms would be helpful. "Only if you're not busy."

[onthewillowsthere]

Galahad shakes his head. His task isn't urgent.

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"Then I should be grateful for your help," says Susan. "Perhaps if you take the top half of the stack?"

[onthewillowsthere]

Carefully, he selects the top five books. It isn't precisely half, but he's still learning the limits to his strength and he doesn't want to have to call a halt. "What are you reading about?"

[quote_gentle_unquote]

Brightly - Galahad is a budding scientist; surely he'll grasp the joy of a new research spiral - Susan says, "Dirt, generally speaking. Specifically soil biota, which are the organisms which live within the dirt."

[onthewillowsthere]

"Like worms?" Galahad asks, immediately curious. He's never considered dirt as a habitat before, or what might be teeming below the surface, but now that he has he has a hundred questions.

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"Yes," enthusiastically, "worms and all manner of other creatures, from ones you can see to ones so small they're invisible to the naked eye."

[onthewillowsthere]

"Like germs?"

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"Bacteria, certainly," says Susan, with all the authority of a woman who skimmed several paragraphs while making her selections. "So - yes, I suppose just like germs. Have you got an interest in germs?"

[onthewillowsthere]

"Magnus told me about them. I'm interested in everything."

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"Everything!" Susan gives Galahad rather an approving look. "Have you got things you're more interested in than other things? Besides-" what had it been? "-tasting things and trying new clothes, of course."

[onthewillowsthere]

"I'm interested in everything animals do." He hesitates. "My friend Percival loved animals."

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"Did he!" This squares with Susan's limited memory of his role in the stories she'd read to Edmund. "Do you know, I've spoken with Qi Yan about trying to sort out some ethology research here, if you'd like to be involved as well."

[onthewillowsthere]

Galahad hesitates again. The easy answer is yes, but he's not sure whether he'll have time now that he's studying with Lan Wangji as much as possible; every morning he meets Lan Wangji by seven to begin training, and his free time is spent now meditating, and lifting rocks. Since he and Magnus¹ found the scabbard, he's been wearing his new sword always, and it's belted around his waist now, over his favorite embroidered overalls.

¹This hasn't happened yet, but it will.

[quote_gentle_unquote]

Susan shan't rush him - it's clear Galahad is a thoughtful sort, who gives full consideration to his choices - but she does add, "Obviously we can't do immediately. There are other tasks that take priority. I am hoping, though, that more animals emerge with the turn of the season."

[onthewillowsthere]

"I hope so too." He permits himself, for a few moments, to imagine turning rocks with Susan, looking at what's beneath and cataloging it, understanding it. He would be happy, he thinks, to do something that would have made Percival so happy. It feels like Grantaire's sketchbook of his friends, a way to honor the lost.

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"I know nothing about soil or its biota," Susan admits then. "But I felt rather helpless, during Dark. I mightn't be as good at growing things as your Claudius or your friend Magnus, but I believe I could learn some other useful things."

[onthewillowsthere]

"I believe you could too."

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"Thank you," pleased. She starts making her way up the stairs, shifting the books to one arm so that she can rest her other hand on the banister.

[onthewillowsthere]

Galahad follows her, something he feels very comfortable doing. He likes Susan's practicality and straightforwardness; it's easy to know what she means, because she says it, and her questions all make sense to him. He's checked his watch, and he has at least an hour before he should go bake with Laertes for the café.

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"Was your friend Percival's favorite animal the unicorn?" Susan asks - she's dredged up the memory of their earlier conversations about him by now, and this seems a less fraught question than one about Camelot or the Grail.

[onthewillowsthere]

"It wasn't his favorite. He loved all animals. They loved him."